Steve Elkington - "Hogan" SHORT TRACK

Kathy Cornelius 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle. Then it stopped.

Bruce Devlin 0:14

You know, go back to Norman von Nine just for one second. I did leave one thing out, which I think was had a great si had was a great significant thing to happen to me during my life. I thought I'd never get another invitation to go back. And uh I I happened to win a uh a golf tournament while I was on probation in Australia. And then uh I got an invitation back in 62 when Norman was there with me in 62 and introduced me to Ben Hogan the first day I arrived there. And you can appreciate this elk. Uh, you know, being in Australia and reading all about these great guys, and you walk into the the locker room and uh Norman says to Hogan, he said, you know, Ben, would you would you play around with this with this young guy I got from Australia? And Hogan said, Sure, I'd love to. Well, I don't have to tell you, that was a very difficult day for me. You know, I was so damn nervous when I walked on the tee, I didn't know what to do or say. But uh, you know, I had seven great years of playing every practice round with him when he and I were at the same tournament, so it was uh well one of the thrills of my life to have got to know him so well. And uh he he like most of the golfers, uh was he was a he was a great guy and uh very heartfelt. He he liked uh he liked everybody, I think, except the press, because they continued to ask him the same questions year after year after year.

Steve Elkington 1:45

So uh that was nice. I know you were close with Hogan, and I know Mr. Burke was close to Hogan too, and and they speak so strongly. In fact, he took me up to Shady Oaks to meet Hogan. Uh Mr. Burke had some business with him, so he said, Do you want to go to Shady Oaks one time? Uh he asked me, and I said, Oh, of course. He goes, I've got to do some business with Hogan. And I had just uh blown a tournament in San Diego. I was leading it, I was a young player, maybe second year, which I want to hear about that Billabong story in a minute, but it was at it it was at Tory Pines, and I was uh I shot about a 78, I think, the last day, and a guy named Greg Twiggs won the tournament, real long hitter. I think it was the only tournament he ever won. But the next day I was up in the car driving up to Shady Oaks and to meet well, to just go with Mr. Burke, and then I met Hogan and he said he he was in the room with Mr. Burke and he turned his attention to me and he said, I watched you on TV yesterday and he said, I've got a couple of things that I want you to do. And I, you know, of course I was all ears. He said he said, the first thing is I skipped a bunch of balls over the green at San Diego, hit him too aggressive and knocked him over the back, and you know the rest of that story once you're over the back at Tory Pines, chip him back down the hill. He said, You don't have to you don't have to hit the ball over the green every hole. He said, You can hit it 30 feet under the hole and let the putter be the star. That was the first thing he told me. He said the second thing, he said, you have a great swing, but you have these massive amounts of practice swings. You swinging too many. He said, No man's fit enough to play 54 holes, like you're taking these two full blast practice swings before you make your real swing. So I've never made another practice swing like that since then. And the third one, he said, you've got the best swing out there. He said, You just go on and play your golf and you'll be fine. And then he turned his attention, he turned his attention back to Mr. Burke, and that was it. I I basically left the room, but I never forgot all three, and and I I they're uh right there fresh in my mind today.

Mike Gonzalez 3:43

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Kathy Cornelius 4:04

It went smack down the fairway. And it started dislike just smit offline. It headed for two, but it bounced off nine. My candidates, as long as you're still in the state, you're okay.